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Solar energy catching on with friends and neighbours

Solar Power Adoption is Contagious,   Dani Thé, ENN , October 22, 2012  
Apparently doing something good can be contagious. Or at least this seems to be the case with solar power adoption. According to a study by Yale and New York University, published though Marketing Science, individuals are most likely to install solar panels on their home if one of their neighbors has also done so. The study, “Peer Effects in Diffusion of Photovoltaic Panels“, took a close look at solar installation clusters between January 2001 and December 2011 throughout the state of California. They found that a resident was most likely to install solar panels if solar panels had already been installed within that resident’s same zip code…… However, without governmental policy measures to create a market for which solar panel installations are desirable, initial installations by a household in a zip code area remains the principal challenge. Without it, a likelihood of adoption domino effect is minimal.

An example of such policy required to kick-start solar technology adoption rates is the “California Solar Initiative”. Established in 2006 by the California Public Commission, it played an integral role of encouraging solar infrastructure installations. Ten years since its establishment, the 3.3 billion dollar, 10-year rebate program encouraged the installation of over 3,000 megawatts of solar infrastructure. This study provides insight into the diffusion process of solar technology infrastructure, and also encourages policy makers to take action. It will require both governmental guidance and business strategy to take full advantage of these findings, so that solar technology adoption rates can quickly grow. The hope is that future studies will discover that the diffusion of other environmentally friendly technologies are just as contagious as solar is. http://www.enn.com/top_stories/article/45120

October 26, 2012 Posted by | decentralised, USA | Leave a comment

Price Anderson Nuclear Industries Indemnity Act – a whopper government subsidy

It is worth noting that Exelon, as an owner and operator of more nuclear power plants than any other American company, benefits to a considerable degree from what is potentially one of the largest government subsidies of energy production in world history, the Price Anderson Nuclear Industries Indemnity Act.

Nuclear Company Blasts Wind Industry Tax Incentive KCET, by Chris Clarke
on October 23, 2012 The largest operator of nuclear power plants in the United States has blasted the Wind Production Tax Credit in a commissioned study…… Continue reading →

October 25, 2012 Posted by | business and costs, politics, Reference, USA | Leave a comment

Economics are the downfall of the nuclear industry

The industry’s renewed glimpse of its mortality comes as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is working on the question of whether the existing plants can get a second 20-year extension, to age 80. But license extension may not be the problem. Wider economic circumstances may be instead.

Aging and Expensive, Reactors Face Mothballs  NYT, Matthew Wald , 23 Oct 12  THE conventional wisdom about nuclear reactors is that they are expensive to build but cheap to run.

 But electricity on the wholesale market is so inexpensive, its price depressed by cheap natural gas , that some reactors may not have enough revenue to justify needed capital expenditures. Experts say that as a result, the nuclear industry may be nearing its first round of retirements since the mid-1990s. Continue reading →

October 24, 2012 Posted by | business and costs, USA | Leave a comment

The KOCHtopus strangles the truth on climate change – profit is their motive

Koch Brothers and Their Amazig Climate Change Denial http://www.desmogblog.com/2012/10/22/koch-brothers-produce-counterfeit-climate-report-deceive-congress an upcoming junk study from a Koch-funded think tank that has taken on the format and appearance of a truly scientific report from the US Government, but is loaded with lies and misrepresentation of actual climate change science. The false report is a tentacle of the Kochtopus–with oil and industrial billionaires Charles and David Koch at the head. Continue reading →

October 24, 2012 Posted by | climate change, USA | Leave a comment

Senseless Cold War nuclear arsenal – obsolete system

We have a Cold War nuclear arsenal built to defend us from “Mad Men”-era threats. But those threats, like the three-martini lunch, are a thing of the past. And the over half a trillion dollars we’re goingto spend on maintaining that bloated arsenal over the next decade will be a half trillion less we can spend on the training and equipment our
troops need to face 21st-century threats.

Blunt: Costs of U.S. nuclear posture senseless Online Athens By ROGER R. BLUNT, October 22, 2012 Fifty years ago the biggest event in human history almost happened. During a fateful 13-day period in October 1962, the Soviet Union and the United States balanced at the brink of nuclear war as the Soviets attempted to establish nuclear bases in Cuba. Continue reading →

October 23, 2012 Posted by | USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

In order to keep people happy, nuclear power plants were kept UNSAFE!

Nuclear Perceptions Fight Reality OpEd News,   By William Boardman, 22 Oct 12,  FUKUSHIMA FREAKOUT OBSCURES REAL ACCIDENT THAT GOES ON AND ON   ”….Perception of Safety Wins Out Over RealityAs has been widely reported, Tepco has known since 2002 that the Fukushima site was unsafe.  “I actually think they knew in the eighties,” Gunderson commented.   One reason TEPCO didn’t do anything was money, and another was public relations. They didn’t want to create the perception that the site was unsafe, so therefore they kept the site unsafe,” Gunderson said. He explained that they have since acknowledged their behavior and he read from a TEPCO public statement:

“There was a worry that, if the company were to implement a severe accident response plan, it would spur anxiety throughout the country and in the community where the plant was sited, and it would lend momentum to the anti-nuclear movement.”

Similar thinking in the U.S. was revealed by the release of a Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) study that showed that 34 U.S. nuclear power plants at risk of flooding from dam failures upstream.  Written about six months ago, but classified “not for public disclosure,” the studywas recently made public by a whistleblower.

“So here’s the NRC, America’s nuclear watchdog, doing exactly what Tokyo Electric did, preventing the public from becoming aware of a safety problem, because they don’t want to frighten the public,” Gunderson said….. http://www.opednews.com/articles/Nuclear-Perceptions-Fight-by-William-Boardman-121022-931.html

 

October 23, 2012 Posted by | Japan, secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA | 1 Comment

Permanent shutdown for USA nuclear power plant

The shutdown would be the first of any reactor in the country since the late 1990s

Dominion says Kewaunee nuclear plant will shut down for good By Thomas  Journal Sentinel 22 Oct 12,  Dominion Resources Inc. will shut down the Kewaunee Power Station by the middle of next year, the company announced Monday, saying it was unable to find a buyer for the nuclear plant east of Green Bay.

The Kewaunee reactor is one of three operating reactors in the state, with the other two located five miles away at Point Beach Nuclear Plant.

The Virginia-based company said the low price of natural gas, which sets prices for the wholesale power market, was a key factor in the decision. The company’s agreements to sell power to two Wisconsin utilities expire next year. Continue reading →

October 23, 2012 Posted by | business and costs, USA | Leave a comment

Judges struggle to understand budget for Indian Point nuclear plant evacuation plan

Nuke hearing targets evacuation costs Iohud.com Michael Risinit  22 Oct 12, Federal judges question formula used by Indian Point owner TARRYTOWN — The three federal administrative judges presiding over Indian Point’s re-licensing hearing struggled Wednesday to understand how the nuclear plant’s owner and federal regulators
estimate the cost of relocating residents following a radioactive accident. Continue reading →

October 23, 2012 Posted by | Legal, USA | Leave a comment

How Many Potential Fukushimas in US?

Nuclear Perceptions Fight Reality OpEd News,   By William Boardman, 22 Oct 12,  FUKUSHIMA FREAKOUT OBSCURES REAL ACCIDENT THAT GOES ON AND ON   “……How Many Potential Fukushimas in US?  After discussing the Fort Calhoun nuclear plant surrounded by flood waters in 2011, with five

full-to-capacity dams upstream, Gunderson commented: “Yet the NRC was basically telling everybody, don’t worry be happy.  You know, the probability of a dam failing is pretty low, but so is the probability of a 60 foot high tsunami hitting Fukushima.  We know that low-probability events happen.  And the NRC and Tokyo Electric both basically don’t want to admit that these events can happen.  And we’ve got 34 different Fukushimas in the United States — one third of the nuclear fleet is in danger of an upstream dam failing.”

Currently four U.S. nuclear power plants have been shut down for extended periods of one to four years, while ratepayers continue to pay the operating costs of plants that aren’t operating.  The two shut down reactors at San Onofre in California are costing ratepayers $50 million a month just to maintain the opportunity to re-start the reactors on short notice.

Worldwide, about 60 of the world’s 434 so-called safe, clean, reliable, inexpensive nuclear power plants are shut down, some forever.

“It just shows that the people we’re counting on to protect us, the regulators and the people that own these power plants, can’t be trusted,” Gunderson concluded.  http://www.opednews.com/articles/Nuclear-Perceptions-Fight-by-William-Boardman-121022-931.html

 

October 23, 2012 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

Emails against nuclear plants – deleted by NRC

March 16th, 2011 – NRC Deleted Over 100 E-mails From Members of the Public Demanding Immediate Closure of US Nuclear Plants

October 23, 2012 Posted by | secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA | Leave a comment

Will the USA again make a ridiculous nuclear “Waste Confidence” rule?

Nuclear-Waste Rule Rewritten by September 2014, NRC Staff Says http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-19/nuclear-waste-rule-rewritten-by-september-2014-nrc-staff-says.html By Kasia Klimasinska – Oct 19, 2012 The staff of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said new court-ordered rules on storage of spent nuclear fuel to be completed by September 2014.

NRC’s staff plans to continue reviewing license applications and holding hearings, and final action is “the only licensing milestone that the staff will be unable to complete” before the waste rule is issued, according to documents posted today on NRC website.

The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington  ruled on June 8 that NRC rules on storage failed to fully evaluate risks and new standards must be drafted. The agency on Aug. 7 suspended final decisions pending the reassessment.

October 20, 2012 Posted by | USA, wastes | Leave a comment

New Texas radioactive waste dump raises questions on water safety

“Our biggest concern of all is the water, and the risk of radioactivity getting into the water,” she said, adding that dumps are too close to the Ogalla Aquifer, which provides drinking water and farming water across a large band of the central-west United States

Nuclear waste dump opens offers a “Texas Solution” to nuclear waste. Courier Journal  October 19, 2012 by James Bruggers It’s not every day that one gets to stand in the bottom of a nuclear waste dump.

But yesterday I did just that, along with about a dozen other journalists one of the new low-level nuclear waste landfills operated by Waste Control Specialists  in West Texas,….At the federal dump, we went down 90 feet and were standing atop several feet of natural
and designed protective barrier, including concrete, plastic, clay and caliche, a sedimentary rock. Continue reading →

October 20, 2012 Posted by | USA, wastes | Leave a comment

2012 – USA’s hottest year on record?

US on course to notch record year of heat SMH, October 19, 2012 After a hot spring and a scorching summer, this winter is likely to continue a US warming trend that could make 2012 the hottest year since modern record-keeping began, US weather experts said Thursday.
Drought that ravaged much of the United States this year may spread in the coming months, said Mike Halpert at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center.
“The large majority of that drought we expect to persist,” Halpert said. “We even see drought expanding westward … into Montana, Idaho and part of Oregon and Washington.”
Dryer-than-usual winter weather is expected in much of the Pacific Northwest, with higher-than-normal precipitation predicted for the Gulf Coast, according to NOAA forecasts……There is enough data to predict a warm winter overall, said Deke Arndt, chief of climate monitoring at NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center.

The first nine months of 2012 were the warmest of any year on record in the contiguous United States, and this has been the third-hottest summer since record-keeping began.

“The main issues facing the US going into this (winter) outlook period stem from persistent heat and drought,” Arndt said at a telephone briefing. “It is likely that 2012 will be the warmest of the 118-year record for the contiguous United States.” http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/us-on-course-to-notch-record-year-of-heat-20121019-27uyc.html#ixzz29t6FaiSX

October 20, 2012 Posted by | climate change, USA | Leave a comment

Flood danger to USA nuclear plants hidden by Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Leaked Report Suggests Long-Known Flood Threat To Nuclear Plants, Safety Advocates Say HUFFINGTON POST 10/19/2012 An un-redacted version of a recently released Nuclear Regulatory Commission  report highlights the threat that flooding poses to nuclear power plants located near large dams — and suggests that the NRC has misled the public for years about the severity of the threat, according to engineers and nuclear safety advocates. Continue reading →

October 20, 2012 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

USA: X ray scanners being phased out at major airports

Horrid X-Ray Body Scanner Are Finally Being Replaced http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2012/10/horrid-x-ray-body-scanner-are-finally-being-replaced/
MARIO AGUILAR 19 Oct 12, The maybe useless and definitely invasive X-ray body scanners at major airports across the US are being replaced with new models that don’t blast you with a bomb of radiation. Coincidentally, the new scanners won’t allow the TSA to see your junk anymore, too.

 

Pro Publica reports  that backscatter machines have already been replaced at Boston Logan International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport, Chicago O’Hare, Orlando and JFK in New York, The new millimeter-wave scanners just give you a once over with low-energy radiation. The resulting image inspected by TSA looks like a cartoon rather than a humiliating silhouette of shower-you.

Before your get all excited that health, safety, and privacy concerns have prevailed, let us clarify: The old backscatter machines aren’t being landfilled. Instead, they’re being moved to smaller airports where they’ll see less traffic. Good news for many, bad news for the unfortunate few. [Pro Publica ]

October 20, 2012 Posted by | health, USA | Leave a comment

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